The Philosophy of the Upanishads c10.s2.t5.25

c10.s2.t5.25

The prevailing view in the Upanishads is the traditional one, according to which there are three world-regions, earth, air and heaven, to which Agni, Vâyu and Âditya correspond as rulers.¹ The fragment of a verse also which is inserted in Chând. 8. 5. 3 is to be interpreted in this sense (that this is so is shown by Atharvav. 5. 4. 3 also):—*tritîyasyâm ito divi*. The reference is not here, as often elsewhere, to three heavens, but the words mean,—"In the heaven, which is (reckoned) the third from here." According to Ait. 1. 1. 2 the primeval waters extend above and below the three regions (earth, air and heaven). Bṛih. 3. 8. 4 teaches that all three are inwoven in the âkâśa, as the latter in Brahman. Very often earth, air and heaven are denoted by the three mystic syllables of the sacrifice (*vyâhṛitis*) *bhûr, bhuvaḥ, svar*. In Taitt. 1. 5 a fourth *mahas* is added to them, denoting probably Brahman. Later, three higher worlds, *janas, tapas*, and *satyam*, were imposed above these four, and so the number seven was obtained, the first mention of which as far as our knowledge goes is in Muṇḍ. 1. 2. 3, and the first enumeration of them in Taitt. Âr. 10. 27–28. Later lists are given in Nâdabindu 3–4, Nṛisimhap. 5. 6. In course of time a distinction was drawn between *bhûr, bhuvaḥ, svar, mahas, jana(s), tapas*, and *satyam* as the seven upper worlds, and *atala, pâtâla, vitala, sutala, rasâtala, mahâtala, talâtala*² as the seven lower. Even this number was exceeded, and in Atharvas'iras 6 nine heavens, nine atmospheres, and nine earths are reckoned.